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Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Chicken Pizza

Pizza is one of the "global" comfort food, enjoyed by almost any nationality. Not blabbering too much about its goodness (we all know it anyway), I am straightaway going into the recipe.

I am mainly giving here the recipe of the pizza base / dough. Rest of the stuff (pizza sauce & toppings) should be according to your liking and depending on whatever is available in your pantry.

Ingredients - Pizza Dough

Yield - 4 small size pizzas or 2 medium size pizzas

All purpose flour - 1 1/2 cups (If you are using All purpose flour alone, it should be 3 1/2 cups

Whole wheat flour - 2 cups (yeah, I like whole wheat is almost anything that I prepare. It gives the dish an earthy feeling, and a lot more crunchiness compared to APF alone).

Oregano - 1 tsp

Instant yeast - 2 1/4 tbsp

Warm water - 1 cup

Olive oil - 3 tbsp

Salt - approx 1 tbsp (I didnt really measure :))

Sugar - 1 tbsp

Method

1. Take 1/2 cup of warm water (keep aside the other half cup water) and dissolve the sugar in it.

2. Sprinkle yeast over this water and keep it aside undisturbed till it becomes frothy. It may take around 5 to 8 minutes. If water isn't warm enough, it might take longer.

3. Place the flours & oregano in the food processor bowl, with dough hook on.

4. Switch on the processor (low speed), and while the flour is getting mixed up, add the salt and olive oil.

5. Add the yeast - water mixture, increase the speed to medium and knead the dough for approximately 5 minutes

6. Take the remaining half cup of water and keep adding 1 tbsp to the dough, while its kneading.

7. Continue the process until you get a smooth, non-sticky dough. Add more water if needed.

8. Smear some olive oil in the bowl and on the dough. Cover the bowl with a cling film and place the bowl in a warm place for almost an hour for the dough to rise and double its size.

While the dough is rising, you can prepare your pizza sauce and topping. Here is what I used.

Pizza sauce

I was too lazy to prepare the sauce from scratch. So I used a mix of below sauces.

Tomato ketchup - 2 tbsp

Nandos Lemon and Herb sauce - 1 tbsp (to make the sauce a bit tangy)

Nandos Peri - Peri (medium hot) sauce - 1 tbsp (to spice it up a bit)

Toppings

Big onions - 2 medium, cut into chunks

Sausages , cut - 1 cup

Carrot - 1 small, sliced

Capsicum - 1 small, cut into chunks

Pork (had to finish off the pork left in freezer) - 1 cup (cooked and slightly roasted with li'l salt and chilly powder)

Basil leaves - 2

Parsely - 1 tsp

Oregano - 1/2 tsp

I slightly sauteed the all the above (except pork) with very little olive oil to get rid of its rawness.

Pizza (contd)

9. Pre-heat the oven to 220 deg atleast for 30 min.

10. Once the dough has doubled, punch it down and divide them into 4 balls.

11. Take one ball at a time, flatten them using a rolling pin (you'll need to dust it with some all purpose flour) or with hand. Try to make the center part thin and slightly thick towards the edges.

12. My oven could handle only 2 small size pizzas at a time. Since I don't have a pizza stone, I arranged the flattened bases on an aluminium foil. Cover and keep it in a warm place for approx 30 minutes.

13. After 30 minutes, they would have risen slightly. Place 1 tbsp of pizza sauce on top and arrange the toppings. Top it up with 2 tbsp of grated mozzarella cheese.

14. Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes, until the cheese has melted and browned slightly.